with Sir Michael Atiyah
Our annual BOAT RACE DINNER was held on Saturday, 3rd June, at The Cambridge Boat Club, Gerry's Landing, Cambridge, Mass., starting at 6:15p.m.
The dinner was preceded by cocktails and our annual boat race on the Charles, with crews representing Oxford and Cambridge. In a repeat of last years race both crews got off to a good start, but Oxford edged ahead and held this lead to win by a little over half a length.
Our after dinner speaker was the renowned mathematician, Sir Michael Atiyah, OM, FRS, (Trinity, Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh). Professor Atiyah's ground-breaking research led to the discovery and proof of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem, a result that has helped pave the way for the development of several branches of mathematics. For this work, Professor Atiyah and his collaborator, Professor Singer of MIT, were awarded the 2004 Abel Prize. Among his many academic distinctions, three stand out, not least because he occupied all three offices over the same period: Master of Trinity, Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and President of the Royal Society. The title of his talk was "Universities - past, present and future".
The Dinner also included the Annual Meeting of Members with election of directors, followed by the Regular Meeting of directors and election of officers.
Sincerely
Nick Copley,
Balliol College, Oxford
President of the Society